LForce: Tick Tock
by BatmanLoonaticsFan96
Summary: The team is running out of time before the Dark Side gets their chance to destroy the world. All they need to do is collect the 6 remaining good mutants to fight for their cause...or they may all die. Sequel to "You Have the Power"
1. Chapter 1

L-Force: Tick Tock

Prologue Short

Cut to a view of Acmetropolis (planet).

Zack (Voice-Over): It's all about power. Who's got it and who doesn't.

Cut to Zara's room. She's lounging on her bed.

Zara (VO): It's about trust. Who's willing to give their life to protect their friends and family…and those who would kill them.

Cut to a diner in Acme France. A teenage girl is sitting at a table, looking around, bored and depressed.

Kyra (VO): This battle started the minute that meteor struck the ocean. The war's been raging ever since. That silence you hear…it's deafening.

Cut to a street in Acme Italy lit by the moon. A young man is walking down the street with his hands in his pockets.

Gail (VO): After all we've been through, you'd think we'd get a break from this on-going struggle. But all we get is more sadness and heartbreak. That's the price a hero has to pay.

Cut to a desert-like forest in Acme Australia. Another boy is there, feeding a koala.

Claire (VO): All the mutants currently in the world fall under 3 categories: evil, good, and hiding. The ones in the first have already been taken, lured into the shadows. The ones in the last refuse to pick a side and have fled from this battle, this war. But of the good…there's only 6 left and not enough time.

Cut to a dance club in Acme Tokyo. Another girl is dancing on the stage.

Zack (VO): This is just the beginning. It's all about choices and consequences. Personally, I prefer the latter, but mainly, our current problems are more deep-seated. The Dark Side has to collect 25 more souls and then it's all over. L-Force and the Loonatics need to collect 6 more warriors who are willing to die for the cause…and who probably will.

Cut to a library in Acme England. A boy and a girl are sitting next to each other, each reading a book.

Ace (VO): This time, we're coming out strong.

Lexi (VO): This time, we're gonna be ready.

Duck (VO): I'm just one of the guys who needs to learn how to say "no."

Cut to the hideout. Nathan and Kyra sit at a table and occasionally look at each other.

Tech (VO): No matter what it takes, I know we're gonna win.

Trinity (VO): I know we can make it if we stick together, try our hardest, and don't give up.

Nathan (VO): This is our biggest challenge yet and I don't intend to back out. We're gonna save this world.

Cut to the warehouse. Zack throws a dagger at the wall, just barely missing Deirdre, who smiles back.

Cassandra (VO): Today's a new day.

Quinn (VO): Sure we'll face some challenges, but it doesn't matter.

Rev (VO): As-long-as-we're-together-this-is-how-it's-gonna-end-with-a-triumph-above-all—

Kyra (VO): Rev, shut up.

Cut to Wake's chamber. She circles around the center of the room.

Gail (VO): We're gonna win. Never give up, never surrender.

Zara (VO): We'll stick together and stay strong, stay united.

Zack (VO): We'll get the power, you just wait. You just wait…

Fade to black.

Chapter 1

Wake lay on the floor in her room, her eyes shut as she slept and subconsciously traced the pentagram carved on the floor. She woke up without opening her eyes. "I know you're in here."

Zack leaned against the doorway. "You know, I'm both impressed and slightly creeped out at that."

"It's almost time. The ritual must be performed soon."

"What do you mean?"

"It has to be done on the Night of 1000 Falling Stars."

"A meteor shower?"

"Which shall take place in less than 2 weeks."

Deirdre walked in. "All we need is the blood, the 'missing ingredient', and 25 more souls."

Wake opened her eyes and sat up. "Then we must collect them. And keep 'the Loonies' from stopping us. The keys to my death are hidden for them to find. All they need is those and their final 6 warriors. I can feel the children even now—their power is great. We must not let them find all 6 before the fight is to rage. And we certainly can't let them get to the keys."

"I gotta warn you…"

All 3 turned to look at Paula, standing in the doorway.

"…it may be hard. While they do have many…many…many faults, the Loonatics and L-Force are trained warriors and they will not easily back down from a fight."

* * *

><p>"That's it, I give up," said Duck, starting to leave the main room of the hideout and go to his quarters.<p>

"Oh, come on," said Nathan, sitting at a checkerboard, "I'm not that good."

"You have 5 kings and I have 5 pieces!"

Nathan looked at the board and saw that he was right. "What do you know. I am that good." He got up. "But it's not like you don't still have a chance." Duck glared at him. "Alright, maybe you don't still have a chance. But we're not gonna know if you don't try. Come on, come at me."

Duck considered this and ran at him, knocking him to the ground and pinning him down.

Nathan groaned. "I meant on the table."

"Oh." Duck got up and helped him up and sat back down. He moved a piece ahead a space.

Nathan moved one of his kings over that piece and another and another and another and… "I win."

Duck jumped at him and knocked him over again.

Kyra raced over with Zara and the girls pulled the 2 warring boys apart.

"What is wrong with you?" Zara cried.

The boys stopped fighting.

Trinity was on the couch, meanwhile, watching all this. She smiled.

Tech sat down next to her. "Come for the show?"

"These 2 are comedy gold. Someone should put them on TV show." [She looks at the camera.]

"Not like our lives aren't similar." [He looks at the camera.] "Now, on another note, what about this fight?"

Trinity slowly stopped smiling. "I don't know. I mean, we have Cassandra and Xavier and Claire, which is good, but…they have Zack and Jake and Val and Paula and Uma, which is awful. Devastating even."

Tech scoffed. "Not for them."

Trinity glared at him.

He sighed. "We'll get through this."

"How?"

"We stick together. I mean, we'll have each other." He slowly moved his hand to meet hers…

"Yeah. I guess so." Trinity went back to watching Nathan and Duck fight. Then she felt something take her hand. She looked and saw that Tech was holding it. She smiled and gazed into his eyes… They slowly leaned in…

Orion came up and sat between them, holding a bowl of popcorn and staring at Nathan and Duck laughingly. "Is this seat taken?"

Trinity glared at him. "It was about to be."

He looked at both of them. "Oh, was I interrupting something?"

"Yes," both coyotes said.

"Good."

Trinity groaned. "Orion, I'm older than you. I think I can handle myself."

"Too bad. My job as the brother to help you."

"Fine. Then go flirt with Claire."

"I would but she's asleep." He then realized what he'd said. "I mean…popcorn?"

Speaking of Claire, she was indeed asleep on the couch on the opposite wall from the 3 coyotes. Through her sleep, she was dreaming…about Wake…about the ritual…about Zack…about Priscilla…about Jake and Valerie and Paula and Uma…about 6 other teenagers, scattered across the world…and about the keys that Wake had said might destroy her…her dream ended when Wake's spell started up and she saw the outcome… Claire started awake. She scrambled up from the couch. "Mayday! Mayday!"

Nathan and Duck stopped fighting.

Trinity stopped trying to lecture Orion.

Everyone else ran in.

"What happened?" asked Kyra.

"Well, I just got a dream-vision that I'm not happy about!" Claire answered.

"Is someone in trouble?"

"Yeah: the whole world."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What did you say you saw?" Zara asked Claire.

"I saw what I said I saw."

"Well, I see that you say you said what you saw, but what you saw is not what I think you're saying you saw."

"I saw what I saw and I'm saying what I saw and saying that I saw what I saw what I said when I said it!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute—huh?" Byron asked.

"Look, my point is…!" Claire changed the subject. She sighed. "Alright, let me start from the beginning. We all remember that Wake, an Oasis, is planning on completing a ritual that will give her back her full power and give her a chance to ultimately take over/destroy the world, with the Dark Side at her side and Zack as her successor."

"Thank you for reminding me," said Zara.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, they still need more ingredients for this…but they're almost done—they only need 25 more souls, some mixed blood, and that 'missing ingredient.' And the ritual has to be done on 'the Night of 1000 Falling Stars.'"

"A meteor shower?" asked Tech.

"But there's one happening in less than 2 weeks," said Trinity.

Claire nodded. "Exactly. That's our problem. We don't have enough people for this fight. Even if we did, we don't have the power to…" She sighed. "But…"

"There's a 'but'?" asked Nathan, to which Duck promptly starting laughing.

"_HOWEVER_…" Claire corrected herself, getting Duck to shut up, "…we do have a way out."

"What do you mean?" asked Arra.

"Well, during my dream…I saw 6 other people still on our side and 10 little objects that might just be the keys to destroying Wake while she's not at full strength."

"Perfect! Where are they?" Kyra said.

"Acme England, Acme France, Acme Tokyo, Acme Australia, and Acme Italy—for the humans."

Kyra calmed down. "Dare I ask where the 'keys' are?"

"Uh…Acme Egypt, Mexico, Antarctica—"

"Alright! That's it! We're dead!"

"Kyra, we can't just give up," said Lexi.

"Well, how are we supposed to go all over the world and find these things and bring them all back here in less than 2 weeks?"

"We could take the shuttle," said Tech, "It's modified to carry up to 50 people and there's only about 40 here."

"As for finding them," said Adam, "Claire and I can feel them out."

"Alright," Ingrid said, "I've heard of going around the world in 80 days, but in less than 2 weeks?"

"Did you not hear me say 'modified'?" Tech asked.

Kyra looked at him. "How 'modified' exactly?"

"Well, I, uh…made some changes."

"How many?"

"Oh, not many." He got a piece of paper and unrolled it…and it stretched down the hall. "137."

Kyra smiled. "Alright, 2 completely different impressions strike me at the same time: 1, you rock. 2, be careful."

_With the Dark Side…_

Wake's eyes snapped open as she lay on the floor again. "They're about to find them. We can't let them find their warriors, or the keys to destroying me. Or else we will never take this world."

Deirdre and Zack were by the door with Loraine and the other Vamps.

"Don't worry," said Zack, shiftily, "We'll keep them out of this. And if we can't stop them…they'll die anyway. It's win-win for us!"

_With the Loonies…_

The gang loaded into the shuttle.

Lexi was trying to stuff all of their luggage in the luggage compartment, but it wouldn't fit. "Tech, you forgot to 'modify' the luggage compartment!"

"Uh, yeah, I didn't think that so many Witches would need this," said Tech.

"You know what?" asked Trinity, "He's right." She took out her wand and zapped off all the luggage except a single bag.

"You expect the 31 of us to live off of that?" asked Cassandra. She opened the bag. "It's empty!"

Trinity then noticed that Yuri was hugging herself. She reached in and pulled out a jacket and handed it to her. "There you go."

Cassandra noticed this and frantically started looking through the bag again.

Trinity stopped her, smiling. "It's magic."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Alright, what's our first stop?" asked Tech, getting ready to chart their course on a world map.

"Here, I'll help you," said Claire, walking over there, "Alright. Let's see…" She typed a few things and the map opened. She put in several coordinates. "Alright, the remaining 6 mutants on our side are in Acme England…" A red dot appeared on the Acme London labeled on the map on the screen. "…Acme Italy…" Another appeared on Acme Rome. "…Acme Tokyo…" Acme Tokyo was marked. "…Acme France…" Acme Paris was highlighted. "…and Acme Australia." The final highlight for the mutants was placed on Acme Sydney. "And there are 10 different objects to look for. One in Acme Mexico…" A blue dot appeared on Acme Mexico City. "…in Acme Egypt…" Acme Cairo was highlighted in blue. "…in Acme Antarctica…" The south pole was highlighted. "…Acme China…" Acme Hong Kong was labeled in blue. "…Acme Haiti…" Haiti turned blue. "…Acme Russia…" Moscow turned blue. "…Acme Scandinavia…" Acme Sweden was labeled. "…Acme Scotland…" Acme Edinburgh was blue. "…Acme Canada…" Another blue dot appeared on Acme Vancouver. "…and Acme Brazil." Acme Brazil lit up with the final blue dot. "So the logical path wound be…" She did some typing and the dots were connected (pun partially intended). "OK, from here, we go to Canada, then to Mexico, then Haiti, then Brazil, then Australia, then Japan, then China, then Russia, then Egypt, then Antarctica, then we dart back up to Italy, then Scandinavia, then France, then Scotland, and then, finally, we end with England and go home." She looked at everyone. They were all confused.

"Could you go over that again?" asked Gail.

"Oh, we have to go, people!" Claire snapped. She did a spell to make sure everyone was there (to which there was an affirmative _DING!_) and then she zapped the doors closed and started up the shuttle.

"And so begins the adventure that will likely change our lives," said Kyra.

"Hopefully for the better, right?" asked Zara.

Kyra thought this over. "Right."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After about 20 minutes of "driving", the gang finally made it to Acme Canada.

"You do realize that if we go this way, we're gonna have to go through Acmetropolis again just to get to Acme Mexico?" asked Darryl as Claire helped Trinity and Gail and Rev and Tech get ready to stop.

"Yeah, but it won't take a half hour to get there without speeding," Trinity answered for her, "By the way, Tech, I love the modifications you made."

"Yeah, let's keep that kind of talk until we get home in one piece," said Duck.

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Howie, "Nothing he could do could be worse than…I don't know…like a giant black hole sucking in the universe!"

Gail glared at him. "That doesn't happen twice, Howie." They all glared at her. "My powers were just coming in!"

"Oh, don't worry," said Trinity, "It's nothing like when's Ore's powers first came in and our dog turned into a fire-breathing dragon!"

Orion glared at her. "And _that's_ nothing compared to when Tree's powers came in and the tree in our backyard grew INTO AN ENT!"

"What's 'AN ENT'?" asked Duck, imitating Orion's hectoring tone.

"Have you never heard of Lord of the Rings?" asked Trinity.

"OK, that's it! We're stopping!" Tech pulled over. "Adam, Claire, are we close to this thing?"

Claire closed her eyes and felt it out. "It's about 2 miles down the road, we can walk."

Adam tried to use his powers. "She must be right, I can't feel it from that distance."

"Even after our spell?" asked Claire.

"Oh, _especially_ after that spell!"

Kyra pulled them off. "Come on, you 2, let's find it." She started to leave…but, as soon as the door opened, they were bombarded by a cold rush of air. She closed the door again. "Tree? Bag."

Trinity pulled out enough jackets and stuff for everyone until they were all covered sufficiently. Then they set out.

Claire had to feel them out. "It's over there." She led them over to an icy river. "It's across this."

Adam felt it out. "She's right. I feel it."

"So how do we get across?" asked Raina. She then thought of something. "Talk about parting the waters." She held out her hands to split the river…and nothing happened. "What?" She tried again and again. She groaned. "The river's enchanted to protect the key. We can't use our powers on it."

Kyra groaned. "I can't believe I'm about to do this." She took off her jackets (that's right, plural) and jumped in. She landed in a cavern. She looked around. It was empty and dark. "I can't see. Guys! WILLIS! ZARA! NAT!" She groaned again. "Why can't they hear me? Lexi should be able to at least."

Nathan was looking around the river. "She just disappeared. I can't see her anywhere."

"Me either," said Max.

"Where'd she go?" asked Gail, "I can still feel her soul nearby."

"That's it, I'm going in after her." Nathan took off his jackets and jumped in.

Kyra heard someone coming.

Nathan landed next to her.

"Nat."

Nathan looked at her. "Kyra." He hugged her.

She didn't let go.

Suddenly, he realized what he was doing and abruptly let go. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, I can't see around here."

Nathan looked around. "There's like 5 tunnels. 2 of us."

"We need Byron."

"We need some penguins."

"What?"

"You can summon them, send them down, and then let them come back and tell you what they saw. You can speak to animals after all."

"OK." Kyra waved her hand and 5 penguins appeared. "Guys, check the tunnels."

The penguins nodded and scurried off. They came back and told Kyra what they'd seen. Then they disappeared.

Kyra looked at Nathan. "OK, one penguin almost got smashed, one incinerated, one drowned, one electrocuted, and one suffocated but they realized that all the tunnels lead back here."

"Huh…" Nathan thought this over. "It's trials. Your penguins were only illusions because they'd been summoned. We have to go through these obstacle courses of the different elements to prove we're worthy."

"Then we have to do it…together." Kyra held out her hand.

Nathan smiled and took her hand.

The 2 made their way down one tunnel. They looked around inside. Suddenly, the tunnel closed behind them as if rocks had covered the opening, leaving them no way out.

"That didn't happen with the penguins," said Kyra.

Nathan nodded.

Suddenly, the tunnel in front of them lit up. The floor began to capsize and reveal a rushing stream of water.

"Guess this is the water trial," Nathan said.

Kyra nodded. "So what do we do—" Suddenly, her foot was lowered. The ground beneath it was breaking. "Nat—" The ground broke between her and Nathan and she fell into the water.

"KYRA!" Nathan jumped in after her. He looked around in the water until he finally found her. He raced over to her and grabbed her and pulled her up for air. "Are you OK?"

She coughed and finally gasped for breath. "Just dandy!" Suddenly, she noticed something… "Uh oh, the water's rising."

"I noticed." He looked at her. "Hold your breath, I'll guide you. Squeeze my hand if you need air."

"OK…" She took his hand, took a deep breath, and dove back down with him.

Nathan looked around with his night vision and led Kyra through the rushing water. Then he noticed a box at the bottom that must be containing the key. He raced down there and grabbed it, not letting go of Kyra the whole time. Finally, they made their way out of the chamber of water and back into the main cavern. "You still OK?"

She started wringing out her hair. "Perfect."

He laid down the box and opened it to pull out a small piece of paper with a picture of the sea on it. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Sea means water. It's proof that we completed that trial. We better go do the others." She pulled him off down the next tunnel. As soon as they were through, they were surrounded by a wall of flame. "Guess this is the fire trial."

Nathan walked over to the fire and it burst upward, making him jump back. "OK, not that way."

Kyra then noticed a break in the wall and thought of something. "Take 2."

"What?"

"These are all about trust and teamwork and blah, blah, blah, so if one of us can lift the other over the fire, they can break through the wall over there and let in the water from the stream in the water tunnel!"

"Perfect! I'll lift you!"

"Uh, why don't I lift you?"

"'Cause I'm a little uncomfortable being lifted by a girl."

"Well, you helped me last time so I want to help you this time—Nat, there's no one else here!"

"Fine!"

Kyra knelt down and cupped her hands.

Nathan stepped on her hands and let her lift him over the fire wall (no pun intended). He raced over to the break in the wall and beat his body weight against it until the water came rushing in and put out the fire surrounding Kyra.

Kyra smiled at him. "Nice work, Nat."

The 2 walked off, grabbed the box by the doorway, took out the fire voucher, and went to do the next trial. They came into the tunnel and—

Kyra started choking and gasping for breath.

"Kyra?" Nathan grabbed her. "Of course. Air trial…there is no air." As he started to carry her out of the tunnel, he started looking around for a solution before Kyra suffocated. _Wait a minute…they only took her air! _He stopped as he came to the exit, which wouldn't open until he allowed Kyra to breathe by getting some oxygen into her system."I hope you don't kill me for this later." He kissed her. As the gate opened, he grabbed the box lying by it…but still didn't let go of Kyra.

Finally, she pushed him off. "Uh…we better keep going."

"Right."

They looked at each other for a couple more seconds and kept walking, taking the wind voucher from the box. They continued on to the next trial. In the tunnel, they immediately had to jump back when a lightning strike just barely avoided hitting them.

"Seriously, why didn't those penguins go through all this?" asked Kyra.

"Guess they needed partners." Nathan pulled her through. "Relax, we'll hear the thunder when the lightning is about to strike."

"Nat, the lightning comes first!" Kyra yanked him back just before another lightning strike would've hit them. "How are we supposed to go through this?"

Nathan thought about it. "Uh…run." He grabbed her and they started running at top speed.

"This isn't gonna work! Even Rev couldn't beat a lightning strike! Nothing moves faster than light!"

"Lightning is a bolt of energy. The light we see is just proof of the energy."

"So?"

"So, we can outrun it if we—" He then hit a trick step. "Uh oh." Another bolt of lightning just missed them. "Yeah, this isn't gonna work." _DING! _"Wait! Like charges repel! It's being drawn to the ground because of the different charge. If we can get ourselves oppositely charged, we can make it out of here no problem."

"How are we supposed to do that? Kiss again?"

"If you want to."

Kyra glared at him.

"Sorry." He sighed. "There's gotta be something we're missing… We need Cassandra. Or a lightning rod."

Kyra then thought of something. "Or a jellyfish."

Nathan looked at her. "What?"

Kyra waved her hand and a jellyfish appeared and sucked in the lightning. "Sometimes, a really, really, really, _REALLY _rare breed of jellyfish can absorb lightning. Now grab it!" She and Nathan grabbed the jellyfish, careful to avoid the stingers, and carried it through the tunnel to absorb the lightning strikes. They grabbed the box on the way out, removed the energy voucher, and left to do the last trial. Earth. "I wonder how this one will work."

Then a couple vines appeared and grabbed their wrists.

"Should've seen that coming."

Nathan tugged but couldn't pull them off. "You'd think we'd know what to do here after fighting Meredith for so long."

Kyra shrugged.

Suddenly, the walls started closing in.

"Oh, boy," Nathan said.

Kyra started thinking. She then got an idea. The vines had their wrists, not their feet. "Did you happen to see _Emperor's New Groove_?"

"No."

"Then I'll give you a run-through. Arm-in-arm."

Nathan put his arms through hers.

She grabbed the vines on his wrists and he did the same for her. "Wait for it…wait for it…go!" She put her foot on the approaching wall and Nathan followed her example. They started walking up the wall until they were in the air pocket between the moving section of the walls and the ceiling. The walls closed, snapping the vines. "That's better. Come on." She helped him crawl across the crawlspace they were now in until they came to the edge and jumped off, grabbing the box and leaving. They pulled out the earth voucher—

The 2 came shooting from the ice river and knocked down the others.

Kyra held up a lavender key. "Wow. When you said '_keys _to Wake's destruction', you weren't kidding."

Claire smiled and took it. "Come on. We've gotta go if we're gonna get to Acme Mexico before sunset." She led them off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kate sat on the floor in her cell.

The door opened enough to let in Priscilla. "Hey."

Kate half-smiled. "Hey."

Priscilla walked over to her and sat down next to her.

Kate looked at her. "You know, I guess I never really thanked you for what you did. For me and for my sister."

"It was nothing."

"Why? You're one of them."

Priscilla looked at her. "Not entirely."

Kate sighed.

"How did you know giving up your power like that would help the Loonies?"

Kate thought it over. "Mary was here."

"Mary?"

"My sister. She wanted to make sure I was OK, and she told me that the Loonatics would go back to their normal power if an Angelic-Dragon gave up their power."

Priscilla sighed. "I hope she's OK."

Kate looked at her. "Why?"

Priscilla looked at her.

"You're one of them. Why would you care so much about me and my sister? Even when I was reading you, I could tell something was wrong—"

"If I leave they will murder me."

"Oh, come on! That's no excuse for not doing the right thing. I mean, the Loonies take risks way greater than that everyday—"

"And everyone I'm close to."

Kate looked at her again.

"Look, only 3 people have left this team. Yes, the Loonatics have been able to cover them, but that didn't account for the people they cared about, specifically because they didn't have any. Meanwhile, my 2 best friends, Jeff and Axel, are completely evil; even so, I can't let anything happen to them. Everyone knows I depend on Cheyenne to survive with my little eye situation, but that's not the whole story. And you know what? The majority of the people on this team joined it because they had nothing left—the meteor ruined their family. Well, guess what? I actually still have a family! My little brother and sister, my aunt and cousin, my own parents—they're all still out there. Regrettably, I don't know where they are. But trust me, Wake does. And if I give her that leverage, I'll lose everything."

Kate just kept looking at her. Her powers hadn't told her that. But right now, without her powers, she could just see that if Priscilla's mechanical eyes could cry, they would. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's OK. It's just that…my 2 best friends are right there in the other room…my family is somewhere out there…" She smirked. "I was even in love."

Kate smirked back. "I know what that feels like."

Priscilla looked at her.

"Yeah, I'm in love. It hurts not being near him."

Priscilla half-smiled. "Guess we have more in common than we thought."

Unfortunately, that's about the time that Cheyenne was walking by that hall. She saw the door partially open and suspiciously looked in the window in the door to see Priscilla and Kate inside, talking and smiling and laughing. Cheyenne narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms and shook her head disapprovingly. "Someday, someway, Little Miss Prissy, you will pay for this." She walked off. "Zack and Wake and Deirdre and I? We'll make sure of it."

_With Mary…_

Mary walked into her old house, still wearing the silver tiara that had once belonged to her sister. She looked around the place and sighed upon seeing absolutely nothing. She closed her eyes and focused. "I need to find Keenan."

The tiara shimmered.

"Kate and Keenan were here…"

_Mary had last seen her sister's boyfriend leaving the house with no sign of where he was going._

"Where did he go?" She groaned. "I wish I could talk to the stars already. But no, I gotta wait till I'm 10! I don't have 5 days! I need to find him _NOW!_"

_Keenan was in Acme England._

Mary blinked. "Whoa. Never seen Kate do that." She smiled. "Guess having this tiara at such an early age comes in handy." She sighed. "But how do I get to Acme England alone in time?" She thought it over and finally smirked. "_ Idea! _" She raced out giddily.

_With the Loonies…_

The gang arrived in Acme Mexico. They made their way to a village area where a big party was going on.

[Mexican Hat Dance playing in background.]

Kyra pushed their way through the crowd up to a guy. "Hey!" she shouted over the noise, "Can you help us find something?"

"Bean burrito with guacamole!" the guy said.

Kyra looked at him. "What?"

While the gang tried to get something (_anything_) across, there was a young blonde girl walking down the street nearby with a simple white dress on and a brown pouch around her waist.

Adam sensed her presence. It was strong. She was powerful. He turned to look at her.

The little girl returned his gaze for a small moment and then ran off.

"HEY!" Adam called after her. He raced after her.

The rest of the gang noticed this and raced after him.

The little girl ran as fast as she could and finally turned a corner only to run into an alley.

The gang raced in after her and finally stopped.

She whirled around to face them, gasping, and started to back away. "Please! Please don't hurt me!"

"Whoa!" said Zara, stepping in, "We're not gonna hurt you."

"But…but your power…you're Dark Side, aren't you?"

"Nowhere near," Duck sneered.

Zara turned to glare at him. "Duck, she's lonely and scared. Her first idea is to jump to conclusions—" She turned back to the girl. "Wait, how'd you just sense our power?"

Claire looked at the girl. She started to walk closer.

"Careful, Claire," said Duck, "Who knows what she is."

Claire turned to glare at him for a split second and then looked back at the girl. "You're a…"

The girl just looked at her. "You're a clairvoyant."

Claire nodded.

"You have a gift…"

"You could say that."

The girl walked close enough to her to take her hand. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. "He's alive."

Claire looked at her, wide-eyed.

"He'll come for you. Eventually."

Orion walked up to the girls. "Uh, what's going on here?"

Claire kept her eyes on the girl. And began to use her free hand to rapidly open the pouch and take out a golden necklace with a charm shaped like a music note. In her touch, the charm glowed and the whole necklace began to shimmer, taking on the form of a scarlet key. "Step number 2, completed." She threw the key over her shoulder and Kyra caught it perfectly. "Wanna tell me what you were doing with that?"

The girl hesitated and finally took her free hand and closed her eyes again. There was a slight flash of light and the girl fainted.

Claire knelt down next to her.

Duck quacked up. "Uh, seriously, an explanation would be good at this point."

Claire sighed and gestured to Slam to come over there.

Slam came up to her and gingerly picked up the girl that looked no older than 7.

"Come on, Claire, let us in the loop here!" Duck said, "What's up with this girl?"

"Kelsy," Claire said, looking at him, "I saw her. Her name is Kelsy."


	5. Chapter 5

I'm back! Sorry it took so long. I had some writer's block, I had some school stuff to do, I had wisdom tooth surgery, and I just got braces. Big summer for me, huh? Anyway, on we go!

Chapter 5

The gang loaded back into the shuttle, Slam carefully putting down unconscious Kelsy on a bed.

"We'd better set our course for Haiti right away if we're gonna do this in time," said Tech, plotting their course and steering them off.

Orion looked at Claire as they took off. "What's going on? Who was that girl talking about? What and who is she? How is it you know so much more about magic than the rest of us? And what's your deal with this kid?"

"I don't know her," Claire said in response to the last question, "But you can say we have similar pasts." With that, she walked off.

Orion stared after her and then looked at the little girl lying there. _She'll tell me everything when she's ready. …so why do I have all these feelings for her? _He quickly turned his attention to his sister.

Trinity sat nearby, examining the lavender and scarlet keys. She looked at the rings of the keys to see that they had different flowery designs. She held them together to find that they joined together to reveal that their designs were intertwined. She looked at this in amazement and realized that all the keys together must make some sort of symbol…and maybe that's what would become their clue to how to stop Wake… Trinity looked at Quinn. "Hey, Quinn."

Quinn looked at her.

"Mind telling me the full story of Wake's rising? And the Saviors that stopped her?"

Quinn nodded and took her into the back where they could talk it over.

_Back in Acme Mexico…_

Mary made her way through the crowded town. She looked around. She couldn't distinguish between one person and the next, let alone find her target. She groaned and approached a man she didn't recognize. "Hey!" she shouted over the noise, "Can you help me find someone?!"

"Taco stand down the street!"

Mary looked at him. "What?! No! That's not what I—oh, forget it." She walked off. She walked over to a corner…and saw a glint of something. She picked up the gold and silver and diamonds she saw on the street. "This is Elven metals and Goblin jewels… It's Kate's!" She went into an alley. "Let's see, what do I remember about this thing? It's Fairy-enchanted…only Angelic-Dragons can see it, let alone wear it…she gave Keegan her heart and then allowed him to take this! Keegan must have been here after all!" She held up the bracelet into the light and the light refracted in a specific direction. Mary started following the trail, intent on finding the Bewitcher in question.

_Later…_

Trinity was still in the back with Quinn. "So Wake was born in the fires of the Underworld…" Quinn nodded. "…she got just enough more powerful than her brothers and sisters to claw her way out of the Underworld and decided to take over the world and destroy it when she was done ruling it…" Quinn nodded again. "…and the Saviors, who were in our place at the time, teamed up their power to banish her to the Land of Nothingness."

Quinn nodded once more. "Yeah."

Trinity sighed. "Quinn, you're giving not much more detail than you did to the group as a whole. What's up?"

"What's up is that's the whole story. The rest was about the Saviors, which isn't exactly important."

"Quinn, don't you get it? The Saviors are behind this whole thing. They knew that they weren't strong enough to completely destroy her while she was at such power and that someone in the future would find a loophole to bring her back at her full power, allowing her to pick up where she left off. So they left the keys for the future heroes—AKA, us—to find and destroy her first."

Quinn considered. "You're right."

Trinity looked at Kelsy. "I wonder how she fits into all this."

Quinn sighed. "Don't know. This just doesn't make much sense."

"Well, what did the book say about the Saviors?"

"Not much. It just said that they cast three spells of their power and died within the next decade. Apparently, one of the spells was the keys. I wonder what the other two were…"

"You mean it didn't say?"

"If it did, I didn't know. There were pages missing."

"Wait, so there were missing pages but stuff was inside it that wasn't originally inside it?"

Quinn and Trinity then realized the obvious truth: Wake and Deirdre had the missing pages! They were using them to figure out what the missing ingredients in the spell were!

Suddenly, the shuttle stopped moving.

"We're there!" Kyra shouted to let everyone know why they'd stopped.

Just as suddenly as the shuttle had stopped, Kelsy started groaning and rolling in her seat.

Claire raced over and grabbed her hand. Again suddenly, her eyes flashed and she gasped.

That's when Kelsy stopped moving.

Claire just stood there, panting.

"Claire…" Orion started.

"I'm doing this one alone." Claire grabbed the enchanted bag and ran off, slamming the door shut behind her.

Orion tried to run after her, only to find that the door had virtually locked itself. "Nuts."

Claire was outside already. She was immediately regretting it. After the meteor's impact, no-longer-very-populated Acme Haiti had become the hub of all the dark weather. Thankfully, the shuttle was parked just outside the limits of it, but Claire was walking right into it to find the key. She was walking into a torrent of flood, blizzards, fire, tornadoes, lightning, and earthquakes. Talk about an elemental test. Claire sighed and looked around. "I need help." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace with a crescent moon shaped charm. "You told me to call whenever I need you most. This is one of those times."

The moon on her necklace shimmered.

Suddenly, a timber wolf came out of the fog and shadows and walked over to her.

She smiled and petted him. "Hey there."

_I missed you, little one, _the wolf spoke in her head.

"No kidding." She looked at her problem. "Now, uh…help?"

_Very well. Take my paw._

Claire shrugged, bent over, and took the wolf's paw—

The wolf ran for it, taking Claire with it.

"WHOA!" Claire tried to keep up.

Back in the shuttle, Trinity and Orion and Tech and Quinn kept a close watch on Kelsy.

"What's taking Claire so long?" Orion asked, looking at his watch.

"I hope she's OK," said Trinity.

About five minutes later, the wolf and Claire stopped running in the middle of a small-but-strong snowstorm.

Claire sighed, having been singed, soaked, struck, shaken, and shot. Now she had to be snowed to even it all out. "Well, thanks for that joyride."

_Do you trust me? _the wolf asked her.

"I'm beginning to question, but mostly yeah."

The wolf began to paw at the snow at their feet.

Claire looked and saw a glint of something emerald. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was. The next key! She knelt down and started peeling away the snow to get the key out. It was stuck. "Uh oh."

_The key must be awakened. It's power is frozen, so it won't move._

"What was that girl doing with one of these things?"

_You will find out. In time._

"Yeah, well, time is something we're sort of running short on. Should I go get Ingrid?"

_No! You must do this alone. Do you not remember why you were sent here?_

"Last I checked, I came here on my own."

_You are a Guardian, Claire. You must follow your calling._

"I question why I joined this job."

_Just follow your path, child. Call on me when you need me again. I will be waiting. In the meantime…only you know what's best… _With that, the wolf walked off, left, and disappeared.

"Well, that was quite a cryptic 'goodbye' message." She then looked at her moon necklace and at the glittering key. "I wonder…" She held her necklace to the key. Both glowed and the key came loose of the ice and into her hand. She examined the emerald key. Oddly enough, the lock on it was even shaped almost exactly like her charm. She smiled. "Figures." She tucked her necklace back into her shirt and walked off back to the shuttle with her newfound treasure. She walked up the others. "I got it."

Orion sighed with relief. "Good. Could you not freak us out like that again?" He took the key and tossed it to his sister.

Trinity caught it perfectly. She held it up to the lavender and scarlet keys. It clung to the other two keys to reveal that they were beginning to make an image. She caught a glimpse of part of a star—which she was sure would be a completed image when they got the next key—and noticed how the colors of the keys were bleeding into each other. "What were those Saviors up to?" she asked herself. 'Cause she was sure there was more going on than they realized…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The gang pulled over in Acme Brazil.

"Well, that ride was reasonably short," Nathan sighed as he made his way to the door. He started to pry it open…to find that it wouldn't open. "Uh…help?"

Slam walked up and pried on it as well. Nothing.

"Wait a minute…" Claire walked over there and waved her hand over the door. "It's not the door…it's the key…it's power's leaking, we're right over it!"

Slam quickly pried up the floor of the shuttle, revealing a mound of dirt below it.

All the Witches in the group set to zapping away the dirt.

They had bored their way into a catacomb.

"I'll take this one," Ace said, whipping out the GSS.

"Not without me, you won't," Lexi smirked as she jumped in.

Ace went after her and found himself in a maze. "OK, now what?"

Claire looked in. "Go left! I'll guide you from you here while the others get a ladder to pull you guys back in!"

Ace nodded and led Lexi down the left hall. At every turn, Claire's voice echoed down the hall telling them clairvoyantly which way to go.

_"Wait!" _Claire's voice suddenly sounded at one hall, making them both stop, _"To the right."_

The two rabbits turned to look.

There was a pedestal there with a box.

They quickly started to—

_"NO, DON'T STEP THERE!"_

Too late. Ace had broken a tripwire. Suddenly, a large carnivorous cat-beast jumped up.

"WHOA, BIG KITTY!" Ace cried, whipping out the sword.

The two rabbits quickly set to fighting it.

Lexi took one kick at it and jumped past it, brain-blasting the box open and taking the green-black key inside. "I got it! Now what?!"

_"Step on its tail so Ace can stab it in the heart!"_

Lexi quickly obeyed, making the cat rear back and growl, giving Ace a proper opportunity to shove the sword through its chest.

"Yes!" Ace cried as he and Lexi started off, "We did it."

_"Not quite."_

They both froze.

"What do you mean?" Ace asked.

_"His heart's in his stomach."_

They then both turned around to find the cat monster getting up and growling.

"You couldn't have clarified that?" Ace demanded, "Anymore bright ideas?"

_"Just one: run."_

The two bunnies quickly ran top speed down the hall, not even pausing to take all of Claire's direction instructions. Finally, they returned to the entrance, where the others were unrolling a rope to pull them back in. They quickly grabbed on and climbed up.

The cat-beast, however, gained and jumped at Lexi to snap its jaws on her foot. She gasped and kicked him off with the other leg, jumping up out of its reach as soon as she could.

Once both of the bunnies were in with the key, Claire threw the floor back in place, sealing it back to how it was magically, then snatched Ace's sword and shoved it through the floor.

Suddenly, all the growling on the other side ceased.

Claire quickly took the sword back and gave it back to Ace, mending the hole she'd just put in the floor.

Zara quickly set to healing Lexi. "We'd better get going to Australia. I believe our new friend's waiting for us."

Meanwhile, Trinity placed the new key in the circle of the other three. She then looked at Quinn, who also knelt there inspecting the engravings on the keys forming an image. "I told you."

_Meanwhile…_

Mary was still following the glow from the bracelet that would lead her to Keenan. She finally came to the docks. "Well, I certainly can't swim across the Atlantic." She then noticed a boat. "Hey! Where's this boat going?"

"At the moment? Nowhere," the captain answered.

Mary then pulled out a pouch and tossed it to him. "Give me a ride?"

The captain looked inside and his eyes widened. He looked at her to find her merely smiling. "Hop in, kid."

She quickly did so and thus they were off.

_Later…_

Gail lay asleep on a seat in the shuttle. Suddenly, it stopped moving and she was lurched enough to fall out. She got up, rubbing her now-sore head. "What was that?"

"We're here," Tech answered.

Sure enough, the Loony gang was by now at Acme Australia.

Gail smiled. "OK then. Let's go meet our new friend." She walked out of the shuttle.

Acme Sydney was amazing, lights and buildings and the ocean and the Sydney Opera House (that hadn't changed at all in the near thousand years it'd been standing).

"Wow," said Gail, "This place is huge! How many people live here?" She then noticed the sign.

_Acme Sydney city limits_

_Pop. 13,586,279_

Gail groaned. "Oh, well, that's gonna make finding one mutant easy."

Yuri sighed. "Don't worry. We just follow Adam and Claire."

"On it," Adam said before walking off.

"Going," Claire added before going the other direction.

3…2…1…

They both switched directions.

Yuri sighed. "Or maybe we are doomed."

After a few minutes, Claire bumped into someone going down the street. "Oh, sorry."

"Sorry," the young man added before continued.

Suddenly, Claire stopped. She turned around. "Hey."

He stopped and turned to face her.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

He shrugged. "OK…"

She looked him over. Sandy brown hair, bluish-brown eyes, sandy complexion…and a read of power. "I don't suppose you happen to know of anyone around here…relatively different?"

He looked at her for a second. "What do you mean by 'different'?"

"You know…sort of…magical, maybe?"

He made a short nod. "Well, see…the thing is—" He quickly knocked her down and ran for it. Once he got to the end of the street, he made a quick left…only to get thrown into a wall. "I'm not joining the Dark Side! I'm—" He then turned around. "You're the Loonatics."

Rev nodded. "Yup-good-guys-although-I-can-see-how-you'd-make-t he-assumption-that-the-Dark-Side-might-be-coming-f or-you-after-all-they-do-work-like-that-they-are-p retty-evil—"

"OK, could you shut up? I didn't catch a word of that and it's really freaking me out."

The rest of the Loony gang came up.

"So…introduction time?" Kyra asked.

He sighed and shook himself off. "My name's Wayne. I specialize in track and field, swimming, undoing mistakes, and seeing repercussions before they happen."

"Wait, so how did you not know we were Loonatics and not Dark Side?"

Wayne thought that over… "OK, to be honest, I wasn't thinking enough to use my powers, I was kind of busy running away."

Kyra smirked. "So, on to the reason we're here: we need your help."

"Well, why didn't you say so? I'm in. You know how much trouble it's been trying to hide in Australia? This place is insane! Every single corner I turn, I have to listen to that accent talk about didgeridoos, the barby, and all things pickled!"

At that one, Kyra laughed. "Alright, already, let's get going." She started to lead him off. "It's really that bad?"

"Well, the accent and the koalas and the kangaroos—that much you get used to. But the Opera House over there echoes to Indonesia. You have no idea how much torture it is to have to listen to that every night."

"So why'd you come here to hide from the DS?"

"…you know, how about you guys start explaining if I'm gonna be on your team?"

"Because that would take up the entirety of the rest of the ride to Japan."

"Japan? I thought we were headed back to HQ."

"Normally, we would be but now…special circumstances, though."

"And a time limit," Claire added on, "We have like ten more days to get our plan in motion."

"…we have a plan now?" Howie asked as he led the gang back into the shuttle.

Gail thought that over. "…apparently, we have a lot of work to do."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Loonatics' shuttle pulled over in Acme Japan.

"So what are we doing here?" asked Wayne.

"We've gotta find the new recruit hiding in here," Adam explained.

"You know that Acme Tokyo is like ten times the population of Acme Sydney. You got lucky that I was on just the right street. How are we gonna find this new kid now?"

"Easy: follow me." He then led them all off. After a few blocks, he suddenly stopped. He looked to the right. "I think I found her." He led them into the building.

It was a club. Bright lights and loud music…and a girl dancing away on the stage. A girl that seemed different. The midnight black hair, the crystal blue eyes, the beige skin—all seemed normal…but Adam and Claire saw her differently.

Trinity suddenly yawned.

Orion looked at her. "Tired?"

"Like crazy."

"Head back to the shuttle, we'll deal with her."

Trinity nodded and went off to rest.

Lexi was still watching the girl on the stage. "She's a good dancer."

"Let's see if she's a good hero," Kyra remarked before walking off towards her. Lexi, Nathan, Zara, and Ace finally followed. The others, however, stayed behind so as not to overwhelm the poor girl.

Less than a minute later, the dancer finally finished her act and left the stage to go to the dressing rooms. She found Kyra waited for her backstage.

"Hey there," Kyra smirked, leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

She blinked. "Hi?"

"I'll just cut to it: what's your name, what's your power?"

Her eyes widened in shock. "Not here." She led them off to her dressing room. Once in there, she locked the door and sighed. "Please tell me you're the—" She then noticed Lexi and Ace. "—Loonatics." She sighed again, this time with relief. "So hard to tell these days."

"I know, right?" Nathan smirked.

She just nodded. "My name's Jenny. I'm a hypnotizer and I cast shields."

"Then I'm glad we got to you before the Dark Side did," Zara smiled, "We could really use you. And, admittedly, they could, too."

Jenny smirked. "Don't I know it. I would've just come to you guys but I couldn't afford to fly downtown from Acme Tokyo without turning heads."

Kyra looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"The Dark Side has eyes everywhere. I'm sure they would've spotted me and my powers. They'd either take me in or take me out."

"It's that bad?" She was panicking inside. They should've been establishing fronts.

"You don't have to worry about that now," Ace still told Jenny, "We've got your back." He smirked. "You're part of the team."

Jenny smiled. "I'll just grab my stuff and quit." She walked off.

But Kyra was still thinking this over. Just how far was the Dark Side going?

_With Mary…_

Mary continued to follow the glowing jewel's guide. Finally, she saw it intensify. She looked over the boat's edge and forward. They were headed right for Acme Britain. "I see our dock."

"You got it, kid," the sailor started to head for the dock.

"Oh, and I'm gonna need the pouch back."

"What?!" he instantly demanded, almost slamming the brake.

"No, you can keep your pay, I just want the pouch back."

He blinked. "OK…" He pulled the pouch out, emptying the contents into his pockets before tossing the pouch back to her.

She caught it and put it in her own pocket. She then looked over at the distant destination. "I'm coming, Keenan. You'd better be there. Kate needs us."

_Meanwhile…_

_She looked out the window. The moon was high and the clouds were thick. The tides were rising fast. It would not be long now. She sighed and returned to her writing desk, scrawling something in a journal._

_"June 13__th__, 1792_

_The shadows are drawing closer. I fear it is only a matter of time before they devour us all. Wake poses a greater threat than we ever could have predicted. But all is not lost. We have found one last hope in Banishment to the Land of Nothingness. But there is always the ritual of awakening that any Dark Follower could pursue at any time period. That is why we made Arthur track the Follower births and create our way out: the Mirror Incarnate."_

_Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door. She quickly opened the desk and placed the journal inside, careful not to close it before the ink dried. She then went to answer the door._

_A young woman was waiting. "Lady Starling, Master Elwyn is here."_

_She smiled. "Tell him I will be out shortly."_

_The attendant nodded and walked off._

_The young duchess named Starling smiled and went to the mirror to tend to her appearance. She straightened her thick brown hair and her long royal dress. She looked in the mirror at her soft pale complexion and her green eyes. She sighed and touched the mirror, her powers responding and making the glass shimmer in a web of golden light. She smiled. "I hope my Mirror will serve its purpose." She fixed herself again and rushed off._

_A young duke was waiting there, his light brown hair neat, his silky skin smooth, and his hazel eyes sparkling. If you guessed this young duke is "Master Elwyn" then you were right. "Where is your brother?"_

_"Titus is preparing the others. Glinda?"_

_"The spells are ready, but she had to talk to Faline one last time."_

_Starling understood. Out of their "secret society" Glinda was the only one with a child. It must be pretty painful having to do what they were having to do with a weight like that on your head. "And the Mirrors are ready?"_

_Elwyn sighed, hung his head, and nodded._

_"Then we must go. Wake will be raising her brothers and sisters in only a few hours." She started for the door._

_Elwyn stopped her. "This will not change a thing. I will always feel for you what I feel now."_

_Starling gave him a smile, but could not hide the dreaded tears falling from her eyes to the floor, raining magic where they landed. "And I you. Forever."_

_He took her in his arms and they kissed, passionately and rapturously. Until they raised the Mirrors, it would be their last…_

Trinity suddenly started awake, gasping in a deep breath as she sat up dramatically, as if she'd been under a sleeping curse. She looked around. Still in the shuttle, but they were moving (slowly, since they were close to their destination, but they were moving).

Orion quickly took notice of his sister's action and knelt beside her. "Are you OK?"

Trinity looked at him. She pondered telling him the whole story of exactly what she saw but she didn't yet know what it meant or even why or how she saw it. She considered telling Quinn the fact that she was seeing into the late 1700s and hearing there about the night Wake was Banished to the Lands of Nothingness, if for no other reason than to see if it could somehow solve the puzzle they had started and give some hints as to how to defeat Wake now. But it also occurred to her that Claire was the one supposed to be having these vision-dreams and such and that something might be wrong; so, naturally, if she warned anyone, then it would be Claire. However, Orion needed to _not _trouble himself with his sister having problems like these at a time like this, so she answered his question: "Fine. Just a…bad dream."

The shuttle then stopped. They were in Acme China.

Trinity sighed, gathering herself. "I'll take this one. Where am I going?"

Adam and Claire followed their senses. They paced the floor for a brief moment before finally stopping, facing each other…and both pointing forward. "That way!" They then saw the problem.

Claire quickly grabbed Adam's hand and felt it out. "That can't be right. We're both feeling the same thing but it's in different places at the same time. Did this key split in half or something?" Then she thought of something. "Wait a minute. It's a disorientation. There must be a Vertigo spell guarding the key. We're right by it!"

Trinity sighed and pulled the door open. She instantly felt weakened and collapsed. "Maybe I _shouldn't _go…"

Claire pulled the door shut before the spell could leak in. "Slam, Tech, and Darryl are the most resilient. Darryl, take point. Call for help and Slam and Tech will come running."

Darryl nodded and rushed off. He started wandering around the field they had landed in, fighting against the spell and searching for the place it was strongest. The spell started getting stronger, so strong that any person without his near-invincible resistance would be unconscious or—if too weak or there for too long—dead. He kept pushing against it, struggling to find the point of origin. Finally, he took a step and instantly fell over. "I THINK I FOUND IT!"

Slam and Tech started to come out to help, finding him already digging against the spell to reach the key. Unfortunately, neither of them could take it either. They were half-conscious and near brain-dead by the time they hit something in their digging.

Darryl pulled the purse-sized treasure chest from the dirt and instantly pressed a countering spell against it, throwing his magic harder and harder into it until finally the spell fell apart around it. He sighed with relief, collapsing against the ground to catch his breath as the chest opened.

Tech sighed and took out the sapphire key inside.

Jenny, Lindy, and Trinity finally came out and helped them back into the shuttle.

Trinity laid out Tech where she had been sleeping, letting him get some rest there now, and took the key from him, going to place it by the others.

Quinn looked it over. "It really is a pattern."

Trinity just looked at it. She found herself flashing back to her dream.

When Starling touched the mirror and created the golden web of light on it, it had, for a split second, formed an image. And that image was now presenting itself in the keys.

Trinity sighed. She looked at Claire and gestured to her. Claire, luckily, got the message and came over. She, Claire, and Quinn knelt down in the corner. "There's something you two need to know…"


End file.
